Hi all,

I've been poking around on these forums for a while now, trying to learn everything I can before I start my first Wizardry game ever, and I finally decided to become a member. I must say that while all this information is daunting, everyone here seems quite helpful and this seems to be a fine gaming community.

Anyway, I have a few questions about the game before I start. I think I've decided on the following party (still deciding on races, but I think I know what classes I want)...

Valkyrie
Fighter
Monk
Ranger
Bard
Mage

Now, while I would like to start a game with this party, I'm unsure if I have enough healing potential... the only character with healing spells will be my Valkyrie, and I don't know if she will be sufficient. If not, I was thinking of substituting the Bard for a Priest, but then I'd be missing out on a rogue-type character (I know you can pick up a rogue RPC, but I'd like to have all the bases covered before I seek third-party assistance). What do you think?

Also, how hard are the difficulty settings with respect to one another? I love a challenge, so I'm thinking of playing on Expert, but this Iron Man setting sounds interesting to me... I think I would enjoy playing on Iron Man for the sheer edge-of-your-seat role-playing experience, but I know it's suicide to play on Iron Man at Expert difficulty my first time ever playing a Wizardry game :D So it's either an Expert mode regular game or a Normal mode Iron Man game... what would you recommend?

Thanks for your info/assistance!

OK, firstly no priest or bishop means no heal spells till level 5 (when your hybrids like Valk, Monk, Ranger qualify), which means that you would be almost out of the lower monastery (with a 6 man party). That will mean an enormous reliance on heal potions. I think you could do that with a two or three man party, but in the 6 man case you are likely to run out. You will be heavily dependant on resting without encountering monsters. A better option than dropping the bard wiould be to go with 5 levels of priest or bishop before changing that character into a monk (focus on divinity). A Bard is too useful for the locks and trap skill, and the invaluable Lute (played myself unconcious in nearly every battle.

I'd recommend standard game with expert settings first. Then we you know more, go the Ironman game with 3 or 4 characters and no NPC's.

You actually have 3 potential healer in your party, Valkyrie, Ranger and Bard.
The Ranger has the Alchemist spellbook which has the heal spell, quite a few of condition removers and even the resurrect spell.
The bard can get one powerfull healing instrument, I will not spoil you anymore.

The monk can cast Psionic, not Divine spell so he won't help.

On the other hand you can perfectly well finish the game without rogues.

I have finished the game with a starting party of:
Fighter
Ranger
Mage
Psionic
Priest
Alchemist

and now I am playing with
Fighter
Ranger
Samurai
Valkyrie
Lord
Bishop

Never took an RPC, nothing remotely ressembling a rogue or a bard.

You will probably want some sort of a healer to start the game with. Now, alchemists, psionicists, priests, and bishops all have access to healing spells at character creation. That means you have a few options available.

You may want to consider making your mage a bishop, and then specialize (allocate level-up points) into Wizardry and Divinity. That way, you will have access to healing/buffing spells, as well as the mage spells that you were originally shooting for.

In my experience, Bishops are powerful characters, but they are a little more work than your standard caster. They have access to all realms, and all spells, but they also take longer to level up (they require more per level than any other class).

You could also begin your monk as a psionicist. Psionicists *do* have access to healing spells, and since your monk will be casting psionic spells later on anyway - you can stock up on some starting spell points by doing this. Psionicists also make use of senses, which is also a statistic that is extremely valuable to monks. Note however, that once you change him/her over to the monk profession, you will have to attain five levels as a monk before you will be able to allocate any points to your spellcasting skills, or choose new spells. Any spells that you have already selected you will still be able to cast however, and your spellcasting skills will still improve through practice. If you decide to do this, I wouldn't recommend staying as a psionicist any longer than 1-2 levels. You are going to want to start pumping martial arts (or the weapon skill of your choice), and critical strike as soon as possible.

If neither of these options sound good to you, and you are not opposed to taking an alchemist or psionicist along with you instead of your mage - these classes also have access to the heal spell at character creation.

If you do decide to make a character that you plan on switching over to another class, make sure that your stats are sufficient to switch over to the class that you will be changing over to (otherwise the option will not be available to you).

Good luck. [img]smile.gif[/img]

My mistake. The level 1 psionist and level 5 monks do indeed have access to the "Heal Wounds" spell.

I disagree with the :

..., and your spellcasting skills will still improve through practice.

The spellcasting skill will only begin improving when level 5 in the monk class is reached.

You're going to end up in trouble and dead without a character that can heal. Sooner or later, you're going to run into a challenging fight. Probably after you leave the Monastary.

Hmm, could have sworn my dual-classed monk was still gaining skills after his switch from psionicist to monk, but perhaps not. [img]smile.gif[/img] He's changed over now, and has regained his spellcasting abilities, so I'll take your word for it Warhammer.

My apologies, didn't mean to misinform. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I would recommend getting rid of either the Valk, Fighter, or Monk and taking a Bishop or Priest. Without any spellcaster with a healing spell at the beginning, you are putting your self at a disadvantage as the only source of healing will be rest or potions. Potions waste an action of the using player that could be used to attack the enemy.

Another solution might be to make your Mage a Bishop specializing in Wizardry and Divinity. This would give you access to both Mage and Priest spells at the cost of slowing your down your overall development.

Actually I didn't have any healers except for my Ranger so it can be done. You just need to be sure that you're powerful enough fighter-wise to do it. My guys haven't had any problems yet, I've never had to cast a healing spell in combat (I'm just getting into the swamp though so this could change), and resting has always brought me to full HPs. You do need to be sure that everyone is equipped with potions though, but those are EASY to come by if you do a bit of pickpocketing [img]smile.gif[/img]

Fighter
Samurai
Rogue
Gadgeteer
Ranger
Mage

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Warhammer:
I have finished the game with a starting party of:
Fighter
Ranger
Mage
Psionic
Priest
Alchemist
<hr></blockquote>

How hard was it to run this party? I'm not vastly experience in Wiz8 but loved magic in M&M and others so want to try anyway [img]smile.gif[/img]

I am thinking about a Dracon Rogue and Dwarf priest on the front-line, with the rest as your party, it'd be nice to pick your brains to try to avoid silly mistakes early on [img]smile.gif[/img]